


Death's Roses

by Grandtheftfandom



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 16:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8168777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grandtheftfandom/pseuds/Grandtheftfandom
Summary: In a black and white world, light always stands against darkness. An epic struggle between good and evil, right and wrong, black and white. But when good simply isn't enough and monsters called Grimm threaten to overwhelm humanity. Well, you create monsters of your own.





	

* * *

 

The world hasn't been black and white in a long time.

That's what we are taught, once in the past they say that people once had the luxury of viewing everything as right and wrong, guilty or innocent. Black and white.

The old saying about man only coming together when a force stronger than themselves appears holds true as well, the force that appeared was monstrous, powerful hungry and above everything else. Dangerous.

And so to fight monsters, we created monsters of our own and in doing so we opened a third color, Grey. The grey area that we exist within, we who use the very power the monsters used to drive us to the edge of extinction.

The creatures of Grimm, it is said that once, none of these creatures were human. That people had the strength of will to resist the negative emotions that create them. That has long since changed, people fall victim to their own negativity every day and if allowed to remain in that state, the Grimm find them and take complete control over their minds. Distorting them until what was 'human' simply no longer exists.

But the power we use, the power of Grimm is not without cost or without temptation. Overuse can lead to the loss of oneself and once  person has surrendered to Grimm, they can't return. Which is why even amongst the grey that we occupy, there must always be a hand of light.

These protectors, these paragons. Surrender themselves, piece by piece to stave off the Grimm, chipping away at their own souls to cleanse the contamination bleeding into ours.

Right, I have actually mentioned who 'we' are yet have I?

They call us Death's Roses, 'The only group of people who have ever earned the right to stand head to head with Death and smile.'

* * *

 

Why had he even bothered coming here?

He glanced around, trying to catch glimpses of the people he had come out with, the endlessly reverberating music and flashing lights provided much to be desired for visibility.

He was jostled around a bit as he moved through the dance floor of the club he was in, he made his way to the bar, it was slow going. But hopefully another drink would numb the pounding in his head and ease the irritating feeling in his chest.

He tapped the bar twice and held up two fingers, the bartender nodded quickly and slid a glass of iced whiskey towards him, he lifted it and took a sip, savoring the slight burn in his throat as he drank.

There was a slight lull between songs, an a loud, high pitched piercing scream ripped through the establishment. He took another sip of his drink and didn't turn to investigate the source of the sound. It was probably just another wack-job high as a kite and tripping out.

Then the lighting changed.

He lifted a brow, the place seemed to be normally lit for the first time since he'd arrived, there was no obnoxious strobe lights or flashing lasers. There was a mirror behind the bar, at about the height of his head, it didn't take him long to figure out why the place had suddenly turned into a normally lit, empty bar.

He sighed and took another sip of his drink swirling the amber liquid idly as he set his glass down, he reached into his coat pocket and removed a set of black gloves.

A stranger plopped onto the chair beside him heavily, he glanced at the man as he pulled on his gloves.

He was dressed in a black suit with a red tie, a pair of sunglasses sat on his face and the lenses were both blood red, a splatter of crimson dripped down his cheek and a wide manic grin sat on the persons face.

"Enjoying your night?" The stranger asked, grin seeming to widen slightly as he did.

He shrugged and picked up his drink, downing a little more of it and looking up at the ceiling, his face shifted slightly "It hasn't been bad." He voiced simply.

"Good, good, it hasn’t been bad that's good," The man paced around behind him rapidly as he spoke "You see though, the fact that you didn't run out with the rest of the terrified patrons, kind of puts us in a little predicament you see, a little predicament is what it is."

He stared into the bottom of his glass for a moment before reaching for the bottle over the bar, he dropped a small stack money on the bar top and poured himself another drink "Is that so?" He asked nonchalantly

"It is so, you see my boys and I have been planning this for awhile," He continued ranting rapidly "It's taken awhile to get all the equipment we need see, you'd think this'd be a simple robbery right? Oh, you'd be very wrong this place is just a cover you see? We are gonna expose it! There's a whole secret world out there boy! I'll tell ya something good, you ever heard of monsters? Demons? Grimm? Probably not, they try to keep em out of the history books you know? But they exist. OHHH boy do they exist and they are _angry_! Dangerous! Bloodthirsty and _powerful_ , like make a man a king powerful!"

He continued to sip at his drink calmly, the man continued his pacing and his rapid talking, only getting more passionate about the craziness he was spouting as he went.

"Get it?" The man suddenly asked

He sighed "Sorry buddy, I'm just here for a drink."

The man nodded his head thoughtfully "Just here for a drink, drink, he's here for a drink he says, just the drink, just the drink. Getting a drink. I see."

For the first time since he had arrived in the club, the entire place was completely silent, he downed the last of his drink and spun on his chair, he eyed the man who had been talking to him and the five identical lackeys behind him. He glanced across the bar and spotted a pocket lighter that was left behind, he reached for it and began idly spinning it around his fingers.

The man who had been speaking began chuckling, it was quiet at first, bubbling in his throat like an uncontrollable giggle before it grew louder, finished when he threw his head back. His gloved hands raked over his sunglasses and he threw his head back and cackled.

"Of course. Of course, I see it now. It's right there. I missed it. I missed it. He's good. He's bad. He's grey. Grey, grey, grey. How much blood does grey need to be mixed with to turn red? We can find out can't we boys?" The stranger laughed again as he rushed forward.

He grabbed his drink glass and rolled to the side, smashing the glass into the attackers head and grabbing the bottle, he launched at it one of the lackey's who was carrying a gun, the man brought his gun up and fired, the bullet shattered the bottle as he dived out of the way, the alcohol splashed against the armed mans chest, he clicked the lighter on and launched it, striking the drink and causing it to ignite on the shooters chest.

"Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. He doesn't know. An apprentice perhaps? No, an unknown? An outsider! Unpurified and whole, unpurified and sane? Impossible?" He glanced at the man who was talking, shards of glass had cut into his head, blood flowed profusely from his wounds but he didn't seemed to care, raking his hands over the flowing cuts and widening them, the left lense of his glasses had shattered. Revealing a completely black eye, the pupil had turned into a dull crimson.

His eyes widened slightly as he glanced at the man he'd lit on fire, the body had fallen to the ground and was still steadily burning, but the man made no indication that he was being burnt alive, he reached up with his still working arm and simply tore the charred limb from his body before discarding the flaming jacket.

No blood escaped the limb when it was dropped to the ground.

"Fantastic." He voiced worriedly, all five were still standing, but at least that one had lost his gun.

He couldn't explain the reasons behind feeling so calm, all he knew was that he was surrounded by five men who apparently cared so little about their own bodies they'd tear off their own limbs, he couldn't think of a single reason he _should_ be calm in this situation.

But he was, maybe he was just as crazy as them? It'd be a good explanation as any at this point, unless this was all just some kind of messed up dream.

"What's that? Tear him apart? I agree! One less grey, one less enemy, one less human, rip and tear. Shred and maim!" The one visible eye focused on him and narrowed as the man let out the shout and pointed at him.

The other four let out animalistic growls and launched at him, he dived out of the way and vaulted a railing, landing on the edge of the now empty dance floor, he rolled out of the way as another suited man launched at him, he jumped to his feet and threw his fist into the air, it caught the next assailant on the chin and sent the body careening away from him.

His eyes narrowed as he took a stance, the edges of his mouth tugged into a slight grin.

"Amusement? No. Assuredness? No. Confidence? No. What is it? Why does it smile? Why is it pleased? Where is it's fear?" The same man that had done all the talking was pacing at the edge of the dance floor, the other four held perfectly still, crouching or hunched over as if they were dogs.

His eyes trailed over the stationary attackers carefully, he glanced at the leader, who'd finally stopped talking, the reed pupil was dilating and narrowing rapidly in curiosity.

He realized it was actually asking him something, he glanced at his palm for a moment and the grin widened ever so slightly "I don't know."

"It doesn't know? What does it know? What does the grey think?" The leader asked rapidly.

Small wisps of black energy built over the left side of his face before it was engulfed completely, a white slit opened where his left eye would usually sit and a jagged line mimicked the grin on right side of his face, the half mask quivered around his face and he locked eyes with the leader.

"My blood's just boiling." He laughed loudly, a deeper, more menacing edge seeped into his voice as the four creatures leapt towards him.

He relaxed and straightened for a moment, in a quick step he was out of the attackers path, he slammed the edge of his hands down and the suited thing crumbled into the ground, he caught the second by the neck. It clawed at him and growled, the white eye of his mask locked on the creature boredly before his hand tightened. A blood curdling snap echoed around the room and he tossed the limp and lifeless body away from him.

He lifted his leg and stomped hard, the resulting shockwave sent the final two careening away from him, one struck a railing and bent backwards unnaturally, a chorus of snapping bones, the other simple smashed against the wall, a black murky liquid splattered against the previously white surface.

He advanced towards the leader methodically, taking a few simply strides and shifting around, his fist flew forward and slammed against the man's open palm with an echoing slam.

"Unsightly." The leader voiced simply before pushing back, he lost his footing and flew backwards and slammed into one the pillars that held up the second floor, the concrete behind him cracked inwards and dust flowed over his shoulders, his right eyebrow lifted slightly in surprise as the leader lowered and launched towards him, he pushed himself out of the pillar and broke into a quick run, the leader coiled around to throw a pinch at him and he spun low and to the right, his palm halted on the leaders ribcage for a moment before the man was launched away from him.

He peered at his palm calmly, a loud snap reached his ears and he glanced back at his opponent, whose head was currently bent around the wrong way. The leader rose to his feet slowly and grabbed his head, with a quick wrench he snapped it back around correctly, it's left arm cracked and snapped back into place.

"Interesting. Interesting. Outside the order but powerful! Powerful! Very Powerful! Indeed, I will enjoy this, this. I will enjoy it, yes consuming you will be rewarding." It cackled loudly as it's left arm shifted, the skin turned black and small segments of fur broke through, his hand lengthened and his fingers turned into long claws of white bone.

"Hm," He hummed in a bored tone "Not enough."

The creature paused and cocked it's head to the side in question.

He held his hand out in front of himself, every shadow in the room snaked into a pool beneath his palm before rising to meet his hand, he gripped the thick pole and ripped it into the air, pulling the completed shape from the ground in front of him.

He spun the haft of the large scythe around himself idly and let the weapon rest across the back of his shoulder, the blade had a wicked hook on the opposite side of the wide silver and black crescent blade. The haft was a shimmering black that seemed to swirl beneath his fingers, he lifted his free hand and beckoned the creature towards him with a challenging grin on his face.

The creature launched forward, bringing the claw around with a loud roar, he ducked beneath the strike and rolled the weapon over his shoulder, the blade cut through the center of the creatures chest, slicing it cleanly in half.

* * *

 

He launched upwards in surprise and looked around rapidly, white walls, double bed, mirrored closet and his alarm blaring at him repeatedly, he ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath as he shut off the alarm and flopped back against his bed, he stared at the roof above his head for a few moment.

"What a dream." He wondered audibly.

He did remember going out the night before, he just couldn't recall anything passed the first bar, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, he hoped he didn't drive home like that, he rolled onto his side and climbed out of his bed. He moved to his closet and grabbed a set of clothes, a simple black shirt and dark blue jeans, he examined his appearance in the mirror on the door for a moment.

His silver hair was still defying gravity by sticking up in every direction it could find, his eyes flashed slightly with the sunlight coming in through his window, the two emerald greens narrowing slightly, he leaned forward and frowned, did his left eye look darker? He tilted his head and shrugged, probably just a trick of the light.

He hung his change of clothes on the bathroom door and moved into the shower, stripping the track suit pants he'd worn to bed, he winced slightly when he stretched his arms above his head, he turned his head around to see the edge of a black and purple bruise on his side.

"Well that’s…interesting." He voiced, maybe he fell? He wasn't going to freak out over a bruise. He shrugged and stepped into the shower.

He left the towel he had used draped over the top of his head as he walked back into his room to get dressed, he paused when his scroll vibrated, he slipped his shirt over his head and picked up the device, answered it quickly and pressing it to his ear.

"Hello?" He greeted quickly.

"Rai can you get down here to cover a shift? Maya called in sick." His boss, Dave asked concisely.

"Uh, sure. Give me twenty minutes to get down there I guess." He returned calmly.

He felt fine, might as well earn some extra cash. Besides, it was Thursday, it'd be nice and slow today.

* * *

 

He completed tying his bow-tie as he entered the small diner where he worked, he moved into the kitchen to punch in, the smell of burned coffee and bacon filled his nose as he tied a black apron around his waist and placed a small notepad in his pocket, it was strange that Dave had come out of his office to great him yet, the back door opened and the house cook Jonathan backed into the room with a stack of food towering over his head precariously.

Rai took a few boxes of the rounded chefs hands and set them down near the fridge "How's it been?"

"Nice and slow, like all Thursdays," Jonathan replied simply "Good for me, means I can get these deliveries sorted, I'll be in here if any orders come in. You can watch the front."

Rai nodded his head and tossed a white cleaning rag over his shoulder as he exited into the front of the diner, he wiped down a few tables and cleared leftover cutlery. The bell above the door jingled loudly and he glanced at the two entrants, a cordial smile displayed on his face.

"Hello, how are we today?" He asked quickly

The two customers walked towards the counter, the first was a blonde of average height, she wore a tan overcoat and a low cut yellow crop top, a black fire symbol peaked out the right side of the coat, his eyes glazed over her appearance slightly, gold bracelets, belted skirt black mini-shorts and brown boots, finished with an orange scarf tied loosely around her neck .

She was the first to speak, flashing him a quick grin "Great, can I get a latte and a piece of raspberry pie?"

He nodded and turned to the smaller girl, black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a black skirt with red trimmings, completing the gothic ensemble with black boots and a red hooded cloak, that was secured to her shoulders by two small silver cross shaped pins.

"Coffee with cream and five sugars." She ordered tiredly.

"Rough night?" He asked as he turned around to make their drinks, placing the coffee mug and latte glass underneath their coffee machine and walking a few paces down to cut a section off their pie while the water heated.

"You could say that." The girl returned, tiredly running a hand through her hair, which caught the light in a way that made him notice that parts of her hair were red.

He curbed the urge to ask if she dyed it that way, he wasn't really the paragon for common natural hair colors after all.

He gave a chuckle as he plated the slice of pie and put a healthy dollop of vanilla ice cream atop it, he moved back to the coffee machine and heated the milk as a steady stream of brown coffee filled the mugs, he could see the pair giving each other questioning glances as he worked "Haven't see you two around before, you new in town?"

"Sort of." The blonde answered, he shrugged and finished making their drinks, sliding them across the counter to them and placing the pie in front of the blonde, a small line of drool pooling at the edge of her mouth.

He moved back to the toaster and heated a piece of bread, he buttered it quickly and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar over it before returning and placing it in front of the red hooded girl, who got him a questioning look.

"Best hangover cure on the planet, I can personally swear by it." He grinned happily and leaned against the coffee machine, she seemed momentarily surprised before she took a small bite from the edge of the piece of toast.

"You guys students or just traveling around?" He asked, attempting to make conversation since they were the only three people in the diner.

"We are here more on…. _business_. I guess." The blonde answered cryptically "You notice anything weird around town lately?"

"Well, I had a weird dream last night, but somehow I doubt that's what you're asking about." He quipped with a laugh, the blonde chuckled.

"What was it about?" The cloaked girl spoke so softly, he didn't catch it.

"Pardon miss?" He asked quickly.

"You're dream, what was it about?" He glanced at the blonde who just shrugged and went back to eating.

"The usual, I have super powers and the world is full of evil." He shrugged, rubbing his arm in slight discomfort and shifted his shoulders.

"Heh, if only the world was that black and white," The hooded girl took a longer drag of her drink "There's a lot of grey here too. I wonder what'd it'd be like to have a set right and wrong."

"Hah, the thing in my dream kept calling me grey," Rai shrugged the coincidence off, it wasn't an uncommon view "The minds quite strange isn't it?"

The cloaked girl smirked slightly and glanced at the blonde as she downed her coffee and finished the last few bites of her toast, the blonde finished off her two things just as quickly "Well thanks." The blonde gave him a quick wave and dropped a small stack of lien on the counter "That should cover everything and if it doesn't. You're overcharging."

He chuckled and waved as the pair left, he shrugged the encounter off and went back to work quietly.

Nothing else noteworthy happened for the rest of his shift.

* * *

 

He yawned loudly as he tossed a few garbage bags into the dumpster behind the diner and wiped his hands together and paused, his ears strained against the passing cars.

Something felt off, his hair stood on end as he glanced down either end of the street flanking the back of the diner, the last car got out of earshot and he managed to pick out the foreign sound.

It was like a wounded animals breathing, ragged and raspy and it continued to get louder as whatever was making it approached him. The street light above him flickered before blowing out, he let out a breath. His own heartbeat pounded in his ears as he walked across the street, positioning himself underneath the opposite street light. The small pool of light offered him very little visibility. The darkness around him seemed to move and obscure anything regardless of how he strained his eyes to see through it.

"That's a _nice_ smell." He froze and stared at the space to his left, a large black arm extended tentatively into the light, a low snarl and the same raspy breathing echoed on his ears as his eyes focused on the creature. Widening in surprise as it came into his view. It's arm had shifted an mangled extending long enough that the person connected to it could stand upright and the large white claws could scrape along the ground.

Half of the persons face was covered by a white mask with red marking on it, the eye covered by the mask glowed a piercing red as it locked onto him and he was filled with an overwhelming sense of dread.

The other half remained human and the worst part was that it was familiar.

He'd seen the persons face the night before, the glass he had embedded into its head the night before still clung stubbornly to a number of open wounds and the cracked lensed sunglasses remained on the things head, the human eye mimicked the covered one now however, glowing the same piercing crimson as the one covered by the mask.

"The grey smells better now." It spoke airily and turned its nose into the air "Smells good, very good. So hungry, eat him, eat him, eat him, eat him." It threw its head back and cackled loudly.

"Rai?" His head snapped towards the diner as Dave walked outside in surprise "What are you still doing here? You did remember to clock off right?"

Rai locked his eyes to the piercing red orbs that floated just outside the small pool of light "Uh, no!" The eyes locked back on him "No, I forgot to Dave, you mind punching me out? I've got something to do this side of town anyway!"

If his manager thought something was wrong he didn't voice it audibly "Yeah, no problem." Came the quick answer before Dave walked back inside.

The distraction had succeeded in at least returning feeling to his legs and he lowered slightly when the beast growled at him, barely a moment later the thing rushed him and he threw himself out of the way, the creature's claw grated along the ground and it slid down the street. He grit his teeth against the pain in his back as adrenaline coursed through his veins.

He pushed himself back to his feet and bolted in the opposite direction to the creature, as he moved to round the corner he came face to face with a pair of eyes he recognized, he had barely bumped into the small girl before she had his arm in a vice grip and had flipped him over her shoulder, he landed on the concrete with a thud and groaned as new shockwaves of pain washed over his body.

Her silver eyes stared down at him in surprise before she seemed to realize why he was on the ground "Sorry, reflex." She voiced tone devoid of any kind of sympathy.

"Deal with him." She ordered to someone, he didn't really feel like he should move at the moment, but he forced his head to turn to the side to at least get a look at the person the girl had spoken too.

A tall white haired girl crouched in front of him, she had a scar over her right eye, her hair was tied in a high pony tail and she wore a white dress and white heeled boots, a rapier was attached firmly to her hip and he frowned at it and opened his mouth to speak, before he caught the movement of her arm and she brought her elbow into his nose harshly. His head connected with the concrete effectively knocking him out.

"Deal with him," She mimicked in irritation "Deal with what? He's just some unlucky sap who got caught in the crossfire."

"Not quite, we were here earlier," The white haired girl glanced at the blonde questioningly "He's had at least one of the dreams, same as Ruby."

The white haired girls face soured as she looked down the alley at the cloaked girl "Heaven help us."

Ruby smirked widely as she drew her hands behind her, the shadow around them contorted and shifted hardening into her large scythe before changing color, the silver blade caught the small amount of light and glinted, red lined the haft and in between the large blade as she spun the black haft around her head and planted the tip in the concrete in front of her.

The beast either didn't notice her or didn't care, too focused on the meal they had conveniently knocked out for it, she spun her scythe and brought it across as the creature lumbered passed her, slicing cleanly through its entire body, it fell in two halves behind her and she spun on her heel and her scythe disappeared.

She crouched beside the two halves and examined them for a moment, she could see the scar another scythe had made through its center. The cut had been clean but the creatures mask must have remained intact as it was currently, she grabbed the shard of white bone and ripped it free from the humans corpse.

She eyed the red lines on the mask a moment before she clenched her fist, shattering the mask in her hands.

"It hadn't fully changed yet." Ruby voiced as she rejoined her companions, her older sister. Yang currently had the boy slung over her shoulders and was examining the top of her nails calmly.

"And they sent the _three_ of us to investigate this?" The white haired girl, Weiss complained loudly.

"It hadn't fully changed, but it was close and considering this area that's worrying in of itself," Ruby voiced "Had it not been seriously injured recently, it would have easily completed its change."

"Who injured it?" Weiss asked curiously.

Ruby nodded at the unconscious boy "He eliminated three familiars bare handed, for an unknown that’s quite the feat."

"I know that look, what's got the gears inside your head turning sis?" Yang asked as she shifted the boy on her shoulder lightly.

Ruby glanced at them calmly for a moment "Our enemies are moving again. We are going to need powerful allies."

"I don't think that means we pick up any unpurified we find, he could be dangerous. Completely corrupted even!" Weiss warned quickly.

"He's still quite sane," Ruby voiced idly "Of that I can assure you."

"Well, he might not think so when he wakes up, all things considered," Yang shrugged "But that's a problem we can deal with tomorrow!"

"Agreed." Ruby replied tiredly as she yawned "I need at least one night of sleep."

* * *

 

Rai attempted to launch into the air as he awoke, he found a pressure on his chest prevent him "That kind of movement is inadvisable." He followed the slender arm up to a pair of amber eyes, a woman held him down gently but firmly, a small black bow sat atop her head and she wore a white leather overcoat that she had buttoned up.

His head still felt like he'd been hit by a truck and he flopped back onto the mattress heavily "Rest, we will explain everything once you're healed." Was the last thing he heard before he drifted back into unconsciousness.

* * *

 


End file.
